Letters: North County, Feb. 26, 2013

Gun control and drones

William Lyons, on Feb. 15 (“Drone control?”), asks gun control people how we feel about President Obama’s drone program.

I believe in gun control and I oppose the drone program. ...

In true fact, I oppose any warfare except against an invading violent army.

I honor our young people, whose love of country leads them to volunteer their lives to protect our nation. I do not honor the armchair war lovers who, in their desperation to achieve manhood, lie us into conflicts with tiny nations, sending those same young patriots into bodily harm.

I support Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense and, like him, I am not afraid of either Iran or North Korea or any other nation in the whole world.

War is so over.

Dolores Welty

Encinitas

God, religion and atheists

I’d like to add a new perspective regarding God (our creator), religions and atheism.

The creator is all-encompassing and all religions are strictly a human thing. You can be “secular” and still believe in a creator. Atheism is just another form of religion. A belief is just what it is, a belief. When atheists can explain how the universe came to be, and what existed before, and replicate any life form from inorganic material, then atheism will have legitimacy. ...

The courts shouldn’t be used to bully one’s beliefs on anyone else.

Rich Hughes

Oceanside

The sad state of the union

The latest state of the union address showed once again the hollowness of President Obama’s rhetoric and the continued deception of the American people that characterizes his agenda.

His themes: jobs and growth, the economy, universal early education, raising the minimum wage, repairing the global climate and hard work gets rewarded.

The reality is far different. History shows that raising the minimum wage results in higher unemployment — small businesses cannot afford to pay more and hire more. ... Universal early education has already cost the nation billions and the statistical results are nearly nonexistent. Fixing the nation’s infrastructure was supposed to be paid for by the stimulus money. What happened to the billions earmarked for infrastructure? Oh, that’s right, it went to saving union jobs and the green energy scam.

Rewarding hard work is the last thing on Obama’s mind. He is more concerned about increasing taxes to punish the productive workers and transfer their wealth to those whose hands are outstretched for more government freebies. By stating none of his proposals will cost a dime, Obama is again misleading the American people. ...

Josef Horowitz

Escondido

A literal interpretation of the Second Amendment

Craig Vansant (“Words have meanings,” Feb. 15) wants to use literal interpretations from the 18th century to justify the right of unlimited gun ownership.

So, let’s take his own words to their logical conclusion. First, as he states, the right to bear arms is endowed upon males between 18 and 45. That means that no one under the age of 18, or over the age of 45, has the right to bear arms. It also means that no women can own a gun. Second, let’s use his same literal logic with the meaning of 18th century words, and interpret the meaning of “arms.” In the 18th century, the only “arms” available were single-shot, manually-loaded pistols or blunderbusses, and, of course, canons. So that appears to be what the Second Amendment was referring to.

The conclusion of his argument is that the Second Amendment confers the right to bear single-shot, manually-loaded pistols or blunderbusses or single-shot rifles on males between the age of 18 and 45. I’d go along with that, and even throw in the canons.

Philip Kirk

Encinitas

Sequestration

It is depressing to see all the uproar over the supposed drastic spending cuts mandated by the “sequestration.” It is my understanding that if it happens, there will be no reduction in spending from present levels.

Due to the deception of “baseline budgeting,” what is being contemplated is a reduction in the rate of increase over the next 10 years. This is how government justifies ever larger budgets each year. We need real reductions in spending if we are ever to get the budget under control and reduce our overwhelming national debt.

If a program cannot survive on what it spent this year, then perhaps it needs to be done away with. The scare tactics used by the administration are simply untrue. I would hope that the U-T North County Times would accurately report this debate. ...

Roger Borst

Fallbrook

In-depth information on bullet train needed

I keep reading small bits of information on the bullet train. All I can visualize is gallons of red ink. I think readers of the U-T North County Times deserve an in-depth article, one that starts with outlining the finances of the present San Diego/Amtrak system. How many riders are average on weekdays and holidays? What is the fare structure and what are the expenses? How much do the freight carriers pay or get paid for the tracks and upkeep? We readers need a real budget picture, like we were running the business. That would give us a real-time financial picture.

Then we need to see the big picture. What will the realistic construction costs be, including the high speed rail route through the mountains (ridge route)? What are the projected timelines of construction and predictions of passenger loads? Are you getting the idea of what we need?

If you can do a good job, the data should be repeated often enough so that the usual uninformed will perhaps learn from repetition. ...